<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; =
-khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><BR><DIV><DIV>On Jan 31, 2006, =
at 10:36 AM, William Schneider wrote:</DIV><BR =
class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><P =
style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" =
size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">You never know what to take =
seriously these days and what is ironic, but to</FONT></P> <P =
style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" =
size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">take the risk: What's so =
stupid about L's? I love L's, I love O's. I love</FONT></P> <P =
style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" =
size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">6'2" A's, but I love the =
6'4" better (I take care of two and have rebuilt</FONT></P> <P =
style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" =
size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">several) and wish Steinway =
was reintroducing that A, but they're not. I</FONT></P> <P =
style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" =
size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">predict that after a =
discreet period of dissing L's, a legend will arise</FONT></P> <P =
style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" =
size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">that they were the best, and =
the O will be under appreciated.</FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE>um, convenient =
edit:</DIV><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; =
margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">That's What =
Wilbur Miller, institutional sales director of Hamell Music</DIV><DIV =
style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; ">(Michigan Steinway dealers) has told me. He says =
it's a 6'2. Historically</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; =
margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">they came in =
two versions, one with a separate tenor bridge, and one with a</DIV><DIV =
style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; ">continuous tenor-treble bridge. I expect it will be =
the latter, but am not</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: =
0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; =
">sure.</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><P =
style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; =
min-height: 14.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px =
0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px =
Helvetica">Bill Schneider</FONT></P> <BR =
class="Apple-interchange-newline"></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR><DIV>On the =
A:</DIV><DIV>My best recollection from the Steinway marketing material =
was that historically, there were three versions of the A, and that the =
A they are reintroducing is a bit of a hybrid of the =
three.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>On the =
L/O:</DIV><DIV>I'm with you. What's wrong with the L? I like it =
better than the O's I've seen. But I've also got to admit I never saw =
a new O in person before -- only old ones with vertigris and poorly =
rebuilt ones -- so I can't compare apples to apples. I'm not 90 years =
old. But I've enjoyed the new Ls just fine.</DIV><DIV><BR =
class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>My take is that the =
reintroduction of both these two models is simply a marketing scheme =
that's going to play on nostalgia. They're going to use that "don't =
make 'em like they used to" to get people to buy the "like they used to" =
models. The price is going to jump up (that's how the auto industry =
increases the prices of cars -- they do away with old models, introduce =
new ones at a higher price, then reintroduce the "vintage" models again =
at 3 times the price.)</DIV><DIV><BR =
class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Personally, I really don't =
see the need to introduce the A. For $4000 more, you can have a B. =
And at that price level, that's really a drop in the bucket of money =
compared to the difference in piano size. It's not like you're moving =
up from a Yamaha C3 to a C6, where the price is much more for much more =
piano. And this reintroduction of the L absolutely has to be a =
marketing trick. Period.</DIV><DIV><BR =
class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>We're having a Steinway rep =
here in a couple weeks. I now have plenty of questions for him =
now.</DIV><DIV><BR =
class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Jeff</DIV><BR><BR><DIV> =
<SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; =
border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; =
font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: =
normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; =
-khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; =
-apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; =
white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><DIV>Jeff Tanner, =
RPT</DIV><DIV>University of South Carolina</DIV><DIV><BR =
class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><BR =
class="Apple-interchange-newline"></SPAN> </DIV><BR></BODY></HTML>=